Despite not having yet seen the film, I saw the trailer of a ground-breaking movie back in late October last year (I can say last year now and not think it was yesterday!) and am utterly hooked until it comes out. The film? Cloud Atlas. I am a massive fan of cinema, especially when it comes to setting new boundaries. The Matrix is always to go-to for any word on cinematic history and of course it deserves all its praise. But that was over 10 years ago. What could cinema possibly have up its sleeve now?

To answer that, I’d like to take you back a few years when I was at University still. I had heard of the film Inception but had no idea how much it would influence not only my writing, but my life (perhaps not as dramatic as you may think though). In interviews, director Christopher Nolan admitted his previous films were all practise for his trump card Inception. Practise? Are you sure? Batman The Dark Knight Rises was just practise? Surely not! But it was indeed so, and then Inception was birthed. I remember vividly seeing it for the first time at the IMAX in Southampton. I was utterly bewitched and the ending blew me away. I couldn’t remember the last time cinema had such a profound effect on me, so I went back, again and again, to see if I had missed anything; a small detail perhaps that would unlock its mystery. What I found was even more incredible.

Spoiler alert for those who don’t know the ending of Inception: It didn’t matter. The ending did not matter. This is what probably confused a lot of viewers and, ultimately, put them off. But I found it even more intoxicating. It didn’t matter? How can an ending not even matter? The whole story revolves around Dom Cobb, and throughout we see how tortured he is about leaving his children behind. When we hit the finale and see the kids’ faces brighten up that dad is back, the camera leaves the happy reunion and focusses on the spinning top. Before we can see if this is real or not, the film cuts out and ends! So was it real? Was it a dream within a million other dreams? Simple answer: It doesn’t matter. Why? Because Cobb’s story arch is complete. He believes it to be real, so we have to accept it as reality too. Have to? Well think of it this way, in our own lives, in our own world, we perceive it to be real. But what is reality anyway and how can you prove it? Thinking of the Matrix again? Yep. It simply doesn’t matter.

Cloud Atlas is proving to be another one of those films, where audiences will laugh, love, cry, and go through a roller-coaster ride of emotions until, at the bitter end, when we see how everything and everyone is connected, we accept the lessons and leave the cinema feeling inspired, elated, perhaps even thoughtful. I got the vibe straight away from the trailer, and with such an all star cast, I had to read the book first. I am a mere two thirds of the way through and it is fast becoming my favourite book of all time. The complexities of writing, how the author willingly chose to stick his middle finger up to the world of literary and say ‘This is how I want to present my book! Screw you and your prose-has-to-be-THIS-way nonsense!’ And hats off to you, David Mitchell!

For me, spotting the twist in the plot comes easily, and I am already pretty aware of how all the stories will end, and for that reason I am incredibly excited about the film coming out here in the UK in February. If the author pushed the boundaries, I’m certain it will translate to screen in a similar way. Here’s hoping!

Life takes you to odd and wonderful places, most of the time we’re just passengers in the journey. Sometimes life will throw you a curve-ball and in my case, its name is London.

Having recently graduated from University, almost a year has gone by where I’ve umm-ed and ah-ed to try to find out what it is I’m good at. I mean really good at. One thing I’m really good at is believing that life is too short to be miserable. I have to love what I’m doing 100% of the time. Now couple that with zero suitable jobs for said graduate in the location I’m in, London came knocking. I have many friends in London who always ask ‘When are you coming to stay over?’ but something always came up. Almost a year has gone by and I realise the longer I stay here, the longer I’ll be going against what I believe in. Don’t get me wrong, I live with the best people in the universe, people who are second family to me and I love and appreciate with all my heart. The only down side is there is nobody in the surrounding towns who I can mingle with. No job meant no colleagues and the one job I did get, well, I always suggested things to do but nobody was ever interested in socialising.

Being a social butterfly all my life, I felt like I was going backwards; somehow spinning my own cocoon of anti-social behaviour. I was happy to stay inside and just spend time with the people immediately around me. That would bring my friend count up to four, if you include the cat. Things had to change for me.

So I set out to get a job in London, which I recently landed! I’m extremely excited about starting (this weekend) in one of the company’s busiest branches. Only one slight hitch. I now need a place to stay. And getting a room in London is horrendously difficult when you’re on a super tight budget. Job and location I love, teenie tiny room with little money spare. Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it would sure help getting me a good flat.

We have the capability to need and want. We need basics, air, food, water, etc. What we want is something so completely different. I want a new iPad, I want the perfect job, I want that amazing romance we were promised in movies; I need something that I want, surely that doesn’t exist. I need everything I see. Now this is where it gets interesting.

I need everything I see can be construed as greedy. You don’t necessarily need everything you see, and what exactly does a person see? Because if that one person sees the world around him/her, the grass, the sky, the house they live in, the birds, nature, then maybe yes I agree, you need it all. We need an environment, we need the people we love around us, we need stimulation in our lives. Or is this, need everything I see as literally I need to possess every single thing I lay my eyes on (I’m sure that’s impossible, but I’m using the extremes as examples).

When someone says to another ‘What I needed in life was always right in front of me’, then I must ask why didn’t we see it before? Perhaps saying we need everything we see isn’t so far-fetched after all. Wanting something means there’s a distinct lack of that aspect in your life, perhaps more adequately put an imbalance in your life’s harmony. This throws into question the reasoning behind the wanting of something; peer pressure? Want to fit in? Want to feel good about yourself and can’t possibly manage it without this one thing? Comfort of living? Whatever the reason is, something makes a switch in our brains or hearts that drives us into wanting something. And at what point does the want become the need?

Oh it’s getting all too deep now, isn’t it? However it is an interesting thought. We believe we need things, or certain events, people, or objects to be a little more complete. It’s where our fantasies kick in and take over, showing us a sneak preview of what it could be like. There are many things I believe I would like, but when I look around me, with a roof over my head, surrounded by people who love me, a good laptop for blogging and gaming, a phone that may not be the best but does what I need it to, how can I be so selfish in wanting more things? We do really well until we hit the stores. I have a roof over my head but those scatter cushions would lift the dull atmosphere in the lounge, and oh those new chairs would be better than the old ones, and oh ice cream is on special offer and it’s a food so that counts as a need right? Advertising, consumerism, marketing, social conventions… Imagine if we had no pressures, no expectations, nothing to prove.